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Standing Bear's Footsteps

In 1877, the Ponca people were exiled from their Nebraska homeland to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. To honor his dying son's last wish to be buried in his homeland, Chief Standing Bear set off on a grueling, six-hundred-mile journey home. Captured en-route, Standing Bear sued a famous U.S. army general for his freedom--choosing to fight injustice not with weapons, but with words. The Chief stood before the court to prove that an Indian was a person under the law. The story quickly made newspaper headlines--attracting powerful allies, as well as enemies.

This high definition documentary weaves interviews, re-creations and present-day scenes to tell a story about human rights--one that resonates powerfully in the present. "I am a man," Chief Standing Bear said at his trial. "The same God made us both."